America is no longer a country of great opportunities
Contrary to popular belief, it is much harder to become rich in America than in Europe, the Independent reports, citing a recent study by the London School of Economics. The researchers analyzed social mobility in eight developed countries. To do so, they determined how many children from low-income families managed to achieve income levels of the upper strata of society.
The most socially mobile countries were Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. In fourth place was Canada, followed by Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The United States closed the list.
The study covered two large groups: the generation of the 1950s and those born in the 1970s. Comparing the number of “rags-to-riches” individuals in each of these groups, sociologists concluded that over twenty years the social hierarchy in some countries had lost its former transparency. Thus, while 17% of Britons born in 1958 into poor families managed to become rich, only 11% of those born poor in 1970 managed to improve their material situation. In other countries, such as the United States, the coefficient of social transparency had not changed over the past twenty years.
Bulgaria and Romania signed the EU accession treaty
On April 25, at Neumünster Abbey (Luxembourg), treaties on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union were signed, effective January 1, 2007. As RIA Novosti reports, the leaders of Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the foreign ministers of the 25 EU member states, signed the documents.
Speaking before the signing ceremony, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso noted that both countries would be able to complete reforms of the judicial system and governing bodies in accordance with EU requirements in the remaining time. “The European Commission, for its part, will provide you with all the necessary assistance,” Barroso assured.
Now the parliaments of the EU member states are to ratify the treaties on the EU membership of the two Balkan republics. On the path to Europe, Bulgaria and Romania must ensure compliance with about 100,000 pages of various European-wide norms and rules. At the same time, both countries have been warned that if they fail to meet all the requirements put forward by the EU towards candidate countries, their accession to this organization may be postponed by one year.
To become an EU member, Bulgaria still has to make the necessary efforts to reform the judicial system and combat corruption and organized crime, while Romania also has to do so in the areas of public administration reform, protection of free competition and the mass media, and environmental protection.
Peacekeepers to be dispatched to the Golan Heights
The Verkhovna Rada approved President Viktor Yushchenko's decision to send the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent to the zone of the Israeli-Syrian conflict on the Golan Heights. As Interfax-Ukraine reports, the soldiers will take part in the UN forces observing the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian troops.
The UN forces were established by a Security Council resolution and no participation of these forces in combat operations is envisaged. Ukrainian peacekeepers will have to replace a corresponding Canadian unit.
Financing of the costs associated with Ukraine's participation in this peacekeeping operation will be carried out from the state budget, with subsequent reimbursement of these expenses by the UN. The UN will provide virtually all the equipment for the Ukrainian peacekeepers.
Preliminary training of the peacekeeping unit is currently underway; the deployment of Ukrainian peacekeepers may begin in June-July. The peacekeeping contingent is planned to be formed exclusively on a voluntary basis, with preference given to servicemen who have taken part in combat operations and peacekeeping missions.
Israel and Syria are in conflict over the Golan Heights, a disputed territory between the two countries that Israel captured during the 1967 war. Syria demands that Israel withdraw its troops from the Golan Heights to the border that existed before the 1967 war. In turn, Israel claims that this could make its border vulnerable to attacks from Syria.
The UN mission on the Syrian Golan Heights was established in 1974; its strength: 1,030 military personnel, 40 civilian observers, and 92 local civilian staff. Military personnel for the UN mission were provided by Austria, Canada, Poland, Slovakia, and Japan. Over 30 years of the UN mission in this conflict zone, 40 of its personnel died.
EU Council approves proposal on list of unreliable airlines
The EU Council on Transport, Telecommunications and Energy at a meeting in Luxembourg approved the European Commission's proposal to compile and publicize a list of unreliable international passenger airlines, RIA Novosti reports.
The EU believes that this step will provide passengers with information about all air carriers that, for security reasons, have been denied the opportunity to serve national airports and fly through their airspace by the member states of this regional organization.
Airlines will be forced to provide transit passenger lists
The American government intends to require airlines whose planes fly over US territory to provide the names of passengers on these flights, writes the Washington Post. If any of them is on the thousands-strong lists of “unreliable” or terrorism suspects, the airliner's access to the airspace of the United States will be prohibited.
New measures that the US Transportation Security Administration plans to introduce in the coming weeks are designed to rule out the possibility of a repeat of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Meanwhile, until now foreign airlines have been required to provide US authorities with the names of passengers only on flights that were headed directly to the country or transited through US airports.
The managements of European, Canadian, and Mexican airlines have already condemned Washington's new idea, and Aeromexico called such US actions a gross violation of international aviation law. Carriers have good reason to fear that adoption of the corresponding regulation will force them to change flight routes, which will entail increased financial costs and travel time.
Romania "drops" zeros from its banknotes
The National Bank of Romania has presented new banknotes that will be put into circulation on July 1 of this year. One new leu will be equal to 10,000 old ones, reports RIA Novosti.
New and old banknotes will be in parallel circulation until January 1, 2007, when Romania becomes an EU member and switches to the euro. As reported by the president of the National Bank, Mugur Isarescu, the denomination of the largest new banknote is 500 lei, which corresponds to approximately €130 or $170. New coins will also be minted - both bronze and aluminum.
Bulgaria will enter the euro zone in 2010
Bulgaria will become a candidate for joining the single European currency area in the second half of 2007 and will most likely introduce the euro on January 1, 2010. As Reuters reports, the head of the country's Central Bank, Ivan Iskrov, said this.
He noted that inflation is the main obstacle on the way to this. However, Iskrov expressed confidence that all political forces in the country are determined to keep the local currency, the lev, pegged to the euro before introducing the common European currency.